Flyers Scoop: Progress on injury front is slow but promising

By RYAN LAWRENCE

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

PHILADELPHIA --- When the Flyers last took the ice, they were limping toward a weeklong hiatus.

Jaromir Jagr, Danny Briere and Zac Rinaldo were sidelined two games, and James van Riemsdyk hadn't played in nearly three weeks. Of course, captain Chris Pronger had been sidelined since November and isn't expected back this season.

But after Tuesday's morning skate, Peter Laviolette sounded confident his team was as close to healthy across the board as it has been all season.

"I thought everybody looked good," Laviolette said before Jagr became the only player to rejoin the lineup Tuesday night. "I think everybody is getting close."

Although all of the injured Flyers, other than Pronger, were on the ice both days, not all were necessarily pain-free. After the morning skate, Briere told reporters he is still battling through concussion symptoms.

Despite no headache Tuesday morning, Briere admitted to dealing with them throughout practice Monday.

"Pretty much all day," Briere told the Camden (N.J.) Courier-Post. "The good thing is it didn't get worse. It was just a light headache. I woke up today and I was feeling good. That's the positive."

Briere suffered a concussion after taking an elbow to the head in the Flyers game at New Jersey Jan. 21.

Like Laviolette, Briere attempted to begin the post-All-Star break with optimism. But just as Briere's headaches have prevailed, so too has the Flyers season-long battle with concussions.

Briere is one of six Flyers who have been sidelined with a concussion, joining Pronger, van Riemsdyk (who has missed seven straight games), Claude Giroux, Brayden Schenn and Matt Read.

"I've had a few, but it's the first one that I had to deal with symptoms," Briere said. "In the past, I've been fortunate that I never had to deal with symptoms, starting the next day. This is something new. We've had lots of experience around here. Guys have been through it, especially this year. We know how to treat them, and our medical staff ... I'm in good hands with them. They've dealt with many of them lately."

When asked specifically about the players dealing with concussions, Laviolette said such questions were to be directed to general manager Paul Holmgren.

Before the All-Star break, however, Holmgren admitted determining how concussed players progress isn't an exact science. As the number of concussions across the league have increased, and hockey's most popular player, Sidney Crosby, has been sidelined for the better part of the last year, it's obvious teams have proceeded conservatively, taking a day-to-day approach to player's symptoms.

Even if Tuesday was better than Monday for Briere, he doesn't appear to be any closer to shedding his "out indefinitely" status. But he's also nowhere near the mindset of thinking he'll join Pronger in an even grimmer prognosis.

"Honestly, I'm not," Briere told the Courier-Post. "I'm very confident this is going to take a little bit. I'm confident that I will get through that. To be honest, I haven't thought this could get worse going on. I try to stay positive.

"Obviously, there's always a chance, but I don't think about it. I'm trying to focus on the next day and what I'm going to do. I'm looking forward to pushing it to the next level, to get back in the lineup."

Briere said he passed an ImPACT concussion test before he resumed practicing Monday.